JP3779790B2 - Inspection method for sealed package - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention moves a strip-shaped package in which a large number of individual packages are sealed and packed with powdered, granular or liquid fluid contents, for example, an oxygen scavenger made of iron powder. However, the present invention relates to a method for inspecting a sealed package for determining the quality of the package by detecting, as accurately as possible, a sealing failure portion of each individual package in the strip-shaped package and excessive or insufficient contents.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A package containing various fluid contents such as a powdered oxygen scavenger, a powdered drug, a liquid or powder seasoning, etc. Although it is obtained by sealing, if there is a defective part in this package, the contents may leak out or air may enter and deteriorate the contents to lose the product value. Items with excess or deficiency cannot be handled as products.
[0003]
As a method for inspecting the presence or absence of a seal failure of the liquidity of the contents of sealed packaged package, proposed an inspection method according to applicant JP Application flat No. 6-100595 previously (JP-A-7-280735) did.
In this inspection method, a change in position such as upside down is applied in advance to a package in which fluid contents are sealed and wrapped, and the fluid contents are forcibly brought into contact with all seal portions to cause poor seals. The contents are intruded and captured as an image by a visual inspection device such as a CCD camera, and the obtained image and the package with a poor seal compared with the image of the normal package without the contents entering the seal It is a method of detecting.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The above inspection method is excellent in that the fluidity of the contents is skillfully used to determine whether there is a seal failure. However, when the image of the package is caught using a CCD camera or the like under visible light having a wavelength of 400 to 600 nm, such as a fluorescent lamp, characters, designs, colors, etc. (hereinafter referred to as the following) printed on the packaging material to be used. This is referred to as a “wrapping material pattern.”) There is a case where the image is caught as if it is an image equivalent to an actual seal failure portion, and there is a case where it is not possible to accurately determine whether the seal is good or bad. found.
[0005]
That is, when a package is imaged with a CCD camera while irradiating a fluorescent light beam from the back of the package in which an oxygen scavenger mainly composed of iron powder is sealed, the oxygen scavenger is displayed as a processed image by a computer. The black iron powder appears as a black shading, but at the same time, the packaging material pattern of the seal portion also appears as a blackish shadow, and the computer makes a wrong decision to regard this packaging material pattern as a pattern with poor sealing. This phenomenon is almost the same even when the illuminance and light intensity of the fluorescent lamp are changed in various ways, and the packaging pattern does not change much as a thin color print. It turns out that there is a limit.
[0006]
In view of such a current situation, the present invention is a sealed package that can accurately and accurately determine the quality of seals and / or the excess or deficiency of the package in which the fluid content is sealed and packaged. it is intended to provide an inspection method of the package.
[0007]
That is, purpose is in the present invention, constituted by a large number continuously provided the individual packaging body obtained by sealing filled with contents having fluidity in a band shape and share a part of the seal portion band package into definitive sealing of the individual wrapper failure, excess and deficiency of the contents can be quickly and accurately determine with high accuracy, it provides a method for inspecting a package the contents are sealed packaging having fluidity To do .
[0008]
In particular, purpose of this invention, the individual package in an oxygen scavenger sealing packaged individual strip package where the package is a number continuously provided in a strip made mainly of iron powder, the quality of the seal and / or It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for inspecting a package that has been sealed and packaged , capable of accurately and quickly determining whether the contents are excessive or insufficient.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
That is, this invention
(1) A packaging body in which individual packaging bodies in which fluid contents are sealed and packaged are inspected while moving a plurality of strip-shaped packaging bodies provided with a shared seal portion between adjacent packaging bodies. An inspection method, in which a fine through hole for positioning is formed at a predetermined position of the shared seal portion, visible light is irradiated to the through hole, and a light beam passing through the through hole is detected and detected. results based on the, irradiated with near-infrared wavelength 800~1000nm the back of the individual packaging body forming the band package, it by the individual packaging body of the contents of the individual packaging body from shading of the resulting seal This is a method for inspecting a package packaged in a sealed package, characterized by detecting the quality of the product and / or the excess or deficiency of the contents.
[0010]
The present invention also provides
(2) The packaging according to (1) above, in which all the sealed portions of the individual packaging bodies constituting the belt-shaped packaging body are forced to contact the contents having fluidity and are irradiated with near infrared light having a wavelength of 800 to 1000 nm. A method of examining the body; and
(3) The method for inspecting a package according to (1) or (2) above, wherein the flowable content sealed and packaged in each package is an oxygen scavenger mainly composed of iron powder;
It is.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Method of inspecting sealed packaged package of this invention, the infrared light irradiated from the back of the individual packaging body forming the strip package is passed through the packing material pattern without being absorbed by the packaging material pattern, each This is based on the knowledge that only the contents having actual fluidity in the package can be displayed as shadows.
[0012]
The infrared light irradiation, using a near-infrared light in the wavelength range of 800~1000n m. When irradiating the near infrared light from one side of the individual packaging body (back), the near infrared light passes through the package or without the packaging material pattern, only individual contents contained in the package Can be accurately copied from the other side (front).
Therefore, since the shadow of the contents entering the defective part of the seal can be accurately captured, it is possible to easily detect the defective part of the seal and the excess or deficiency of the contents.
(Hereinafter, individual packages constituting the belt-shaped package are referred to as “packaging bodies”, and near-infrared light having a wavelength of 800 to 1000 nm may be simply referred to as “near-infrared light”.)
[0013]
Specifically, the shadow of the contents of the near-infrared light that has passed through the package while irradiating the package with near-infrared light having a wavelength of 800 to 1000 nm is photographed with a CCD camera and processed by a computer. Is done.
For example, near-infrared light having a wavelength of 800 to 1000 nm is irradiated from the back surface of a package body in which flowable contents are sealed and packaged, and light from a near-infrared light passing through the package body is emitted by a CCD camera arranged on the front surface of the package body This optical signal is input to a computer as an electrical signal, and image processing is performed in the computer according to a predetermined format. Based on this processed image, an actual seal failure or excess or deficiency of filled contents is detected. It is automatically determined.
[0014]
As a more preferable specific example of the image processing, the shadow input to the CCD camera is processed by a computer to calculate a density histogram based on the density of the shadow, and from this histogram, two different input values, that is, An intermediate value (threshold value) for dividing the density value into a dark density value and a light density value with respect to all density values is adopted. Based on this threshold value, for example, the pixel of the high density value portion is set to 0, and the density value Binarization is performed so that the pixel of the lower part is set to 1.
[0015]
This process automatically removes unneeded images from the binarized image, and automatically determines whether there is a seal failure or the excess or deficiency of the filled contents from the shadow pattern left behind. The operation is actually performed by the computer in accordance with a predetermined format and is instantaneously determined with high accuracy in comparison with a preset reference value.
[0016]
In the present invention, such processing, while moving the strip package that many continuously provided in a strip the individual packaging body The contents were sealed packaging having fluidity, carried out continuously for each package.
[0017]
In order to perform these determinations more accurately, in the detection by irradiation with near-infrared light, the package itself is subjected to vibration, inversion, twisting, etc. in advance to all the seal parts of the individual packages. It is preferable to force the contents evenly in contact with each other and to allow the contents to enter the portion of the seal failure, whereby the object of the present invention is better achieved.
[0018]
In this invention, when the detection by the irradiation of near infrared light of the individual package, in order to irradiate is positioned accurately near infrared light on the back of the individual packaging body, between the package adjacent in the belt package In the shared seal portion, a fine through-hole is formed so as to transmit the visible light by irradiation with visible light such as a fluorescent lamp, and the irradiated visible light is based on the position where the transmitted through the through-hole. since irradiation with near infrared light on individual packaging, to be able to accurately read the shade, it is possible to highly accurate detection.
[0019]
The through-hole may be of a minimum size that allows visible light to be used, and the setting site is a shared seal portion between adjacent packages, and the package seal is formed by drilling. Although it will not be restrict | limited especially if it is a site | part which does not exert a bad influence on itself, It is preferable to provide in the intermediate part of the shared seal | sticker part used for the continuous connection of each adjacent package . Also, it is no special restriction on the number of through-holes.
[0020]
[Action]
Inspection method of sealing package of the present invention, by irradiating from the back of the individual packaging body forming the band-shaped packaging body near infrared light having a wavelength 800~1000nm as the irradiation light for the examination, the near infrared light without being absorbed by the packaging material pattern of the package, since substantially only the packaging body of the contents can be grasped accurately as shadows, poor sealing portion of the individual packaging body by the shading, excess or deficiency of the contents Etc. can be detected as accurately as possible to determine the quality of the package.
According to the seal package inspection method of the present invention, a fine through hole for positioning is formed in a shared seal portion between adjacent packages in a belt-shaped package, and visible light irradiated to the through hole portion is transmitted. Since the near-infrared light is accurately positioned and irradiated on the back of each package based on the position that has passed through the hole, the shadow of each package can be accurately read, and high-precision detection can be achieved. Is possible .
[0021]
According to the inspection method of the present invention, each of the package bodies is moved while moving at a high speed the strip-shaped package body in which a large number of individual package bodies in which the oxygen scavenger mainly composed of iron powder is sealed and packaged as a fluid content. Ru can be accomplished by precisely yet reliable inspection of the.
[0022]
【Example】
Hereinafter, as an embodiment of the inspection method for a package packaged in a sealed manner according to the present invention, an inspection method for a package material containing an oxygen scavenger will be specifically described.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of the inspection method for a package body sealed and packaged according to the present invention.
The package to be inspected is a long wrapping material having a predetermined width and thickness obtained by laminating a polyethylene film having a lower melting point than the polyester film on a laminate of a breathable polyester film and paper. The low melting point polyethylene film surface is folded in half from the center in the longitudinal direction, and the packaging material is sealed in the vertical direction at a predetermined interval with the folded portion as the bottom, and the iron from the remaining upper opening After filling the deoxidizer a consisting of flour and the auxiliary component, in which a number of the package 1a to seal the opening, 1a, is 1a · · · was strip package 1 which is continuously provided on the strip.
[0023]
FIG. 1 shows the band-shaped package 1 with its bottom folded in two, and each package 1a, 1a,... Has seals x and y in the vertical direction on both sides and seals in the horizontal direction. Each z is formed to form a package 1a with a three-way seal.
Incidentally, next Ri suits package 1a, 1a each seal x longitudinal, y is 2 times the seal width, that is, connected with a sealing width of x + y, dotted line in Figure in the subsequent step of this test Is cut into individual packages 1a and 1a.
Further, minute through holes 2, 2,... That transmit light used for positioning are formed in the portion to be cut.
[0024]
The strip package 1 is evenly forced the seal x, oxygen scavenger A from the inside portion of the y and z of each package 1a performed such as by vibration or vertical flashing vibrator, torsion and the like prior to testing manipulated into contact, is thereby when each package 1a, and the like bad seal portion x ₁ in, in which allowed to penetrate the oxygen scavenger a to all parts of such these x _1.
[0025]
On the other hand, the inspection device 3 for the belt-like package 1 detects a computer 4, a near infrared light source 6, a CCD camera 7, and the through-hole 2 associated with a display 5 and a keyboard (not shown) to detect individual packages 1a. It comprises a visible light projecting unit 8a that constitutes a sensor for correctly positioning at the irradiation position of the near infrared light source 6, and a light receiving unit 8b that receives the irradiation light of the projecting unit 8a and inputs it to the computer 4.
[0026]
The band-shaped package body 1 that has undergone the above-described process for bringing the oxygen scavenger A, which is the contents into uniform contact with the inner portions of the seals x, y, and z, moves toward the right in the figure as indicated by the arrows.
This movement to the belt-like wrapping body 1 is irradiated visible light from the light projecting portion 8a, package 1a the irradiation light that matches Ri next, Toru drilled in the dotted line portion connecting the sealing x and y 1a When the light is received by the light receiving portion 8b through the holes 2, 2,... , Near-infrared light having a wavelength of 800 to 1000 nm is emitted from the near-infrared light source 6 disposed on the back surface of the predetermined package 1a with reference to the position. It is comprised so that the back surface of the package 1a may be irradiated uniformly.
[0027]
The irradiated near-infrared light is not absorbed by the packaging pattern printed on the surface of the packaging body 1a, and the CCD is arranged in front of the packaging body 1a by accurately capturing only the internal oxygen scavenger A as a shadow. Photographed by the camera 7.
[0028]
The shadow photographed by the CCD camera 7 is input to the computer 4 as an electrical signal, and a threshold value based on the shade of the shadow is selected and binarized based on this, and an unnecessary miscellaneous image is formed from the binarized shadow. Through the calculation process to be removed, it is displayed on the display 5 in comparison with the shadow of the package with an appropriate filling amount without a preset sealing failure, and automatically the sealing failure and excess / deficiency of the filled oxygen scavenger A are automatically displayed. Judge quickly and quickly.
[0029]
FIG. 2 exemplifies the inspection result of the package 1a obtained by the above operation by irradiation with near infrared light as a shade of binarization, and FIG. 3 shows the package obtained by irradiating visible light with a fluorescent lamp. Similarly, the inspection result of 1a is converted into a shade of binarization.
[0030]
Irradiation results in the near-infrared light in Fig. 2, left and right vertical seal x, and y, is hardly reflecting of the packaging material pattern on the surface of the portion of the lower transverse seal z, Filling been contents Only the oxygen scavenger A is captured as a black shadow at a predetermined level (height), and a clear shadow is formed.
This clearly indicates the degree of filling of the contents, and also sufficiently accurately detects that the oxygen scavenger A has entered the seal failure portion x ₁ generated in the seal x portion. The excess or deficiency of the x ₁ portion or the filled oxygen scavenger A can be determined without error.
[0031]
On the other hand , in the result of visible light in FIG. 3, the packaging pattern on the surface of each of the seals x, y, and z has a black pattern, a dark pattern, letters, etc. Isuzu has been regarded as the same black shade. In addition, since the peripheral portion of the boundary between the seal portion and the central filling portion is blurred to form a large shade portion, even if there is a defective seal x _{1 in} the seal x, y or z portion, these are removed. It is difficult to detect, and it is difficult for the computer to judge the suitability of the seal of the package 1a from such unclear shading.
[0032]
In particular, since it is difficult to accurately determine whether the dark pattern or characters on the seal portion is simply a packaging pattern or due to a defective seal that contains the contents, an appropriate package must be selected. There is a high possibility of violating the risk of misjudgment, such as excluding from the strip-shaped package 1 considering it as a defective package, or incorporating a defective package into a group of product packages as appropriate. is there. It is also difficult to determine the excess or deficiency of the oxygen scavenger A inside the package from such unclear shadows.
[0033]
【The invention's effect】
Method of inspecting sealed packaged package of the present invention, by irradiating from the back of the package near infrared wavelength 800~1000nm as the irradiation light for the examination, imaging the shadow in the front of the package Without displaying the packaging material pattern etc., display only the actual contents as a shadow, and based on this shadow, detect the defective part of the package, the excess or deficiency of the contents as accurately as possible, and Ru can be used to determine the quality of the package.
[0034]
In particular, by using near-infrared light as the infrared light used in the present invention, only the contents accommodated in the package without being absorbed by characters or designs printed on the surface of the package, or color, etc. Is more accurately captured as a shade, so that the packaging pattern can be formed by printing with high contrast and high contrast, thereby increasing the commercial value of the package.
In the present invention, in the detection by irradiation of near infrared light on the back surface of each packaging body, in order to irradiate near infrared light accurately on the back surface of each packaging body, adjacent packaging bodies in the belt-shaped packaging body A fine through-hole is formed in the shared seal portion between the two so that the visible light can be transmitted by irradiation of visible light such as a fluorescent lamp, and the irradiated visible light is based on the position through which the through-hole is transmitted. Since the near-infrared light is irradiated to each package, the shadow can be accurately read and high-precision detection is possible .
[0035]
Test method of this invention can be effectively used oxygen scavenger mainly comprising iron powder as a fluidity contents for sealing packaged packaging, in particular, a number of packaging of the oxygen scavenger in a strip The above-described inspection can be accurately and highly reliably achieved for each individual package while moving the continuous belt-like package at high speed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a configuration of a method for inspecting a sealed package of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating the shadow of the package obtained based on the inspection method of the package packaged in a sealed manner according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a front view illustrating the shadow of a package obtained based on a conventional package inspection method using visible light.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Band-shaped package 1a Package 2 Through-hole 3 Inspection apparatus 4 Computer 5 Display 6 Near-infrared light source 7 CCD camera 8a Light emission part 8b Light reception part A Oxygen absorber x, y, z seal

Claims (3)

An inspection method for a package in which individual packages with fluid contents sealed and packaged are inspected while moving a plurality of strips continuously arranged in a strip by providing a shared seal portion between adjacent packages And forming a through hole for positioning at a predetermined position of the shared seal portion, irradiating the through hole with visible light, detecting a light beam transmitted through the through hole, and using the detection result as a reference. a manner, by irradiating the near-infrared wavelength 800~1000nm the back of the individual packaging body forming the band package, whereby the quality of the sealing of the individual wrapper from shading of the individual packaging body of contents obtained or A method for inspecting a sealed package that is characterized by detecting excess and deficiency of contents. The package according to claim 1, wherein the content having fluidity is forcibly brought into contact with all the seal portions of the individual packages constituting the belt-shaped package, and near infrared light having a wavelength of 800 to 1000 nm is irradiated. Inspection method . The inspection method for a package according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the flowable contents sealed and packaged in each package is an oxygen scavenger mainly composed of iron powder .

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